The Light Behind Your Eyes
by Hobbsy3
Summary: For Morgan, Sara, Catherine, Nick, Greg, and Warrick, the second year of high school is getting of to an even worse start than their first. Tali David, Sara's best friend and Nick's girlfriend is missing, presumed dead, they have important exams at the end of the year and a whole lot more angst lined up to come. Sequel to The Best I Ever Had, can be read alone. On hiatus :(
1. Chapter 1: Broken Beginnings

**So, here we have the sequel to my story ****_The Best I Ever Had. _****If you like, you can (hopefully) read this on its own, I will try to make it understandable :-)**

**This story is dedicated to everyone who enjoyed BIEH, especially my lovely reviewers! **

**Anyways, here we go! **

**Read. Enjoy. Review.**

**_The Light Behind Your Eyes _**

**Chapter One # Broken Beginnings #**

He took a deep breath, and stared up at the door. The door he'd walked in through a million times to see Tali, with Tali, after Tali.

Now he'd walk through without her.

"Nick." Sara Sidle, his foster sister, put a hand on his arm. Her eyes misted with tears, but she didn't cry.

Nick Stokes nodded.

They didn't need to speak.

They walked through together, five minutes late and headed down the already quiet corridor to their homeroom, A11.

They slipped into the room.

"First day of term and the pair of you are already late." Grissom, their homeroom teacher, smiled wryly. The informal structure of Atwater High School for the meant that while students called most teachers by their surname only, the teachers had more time for each of their students.

And more time for each student meant that Dr Gil Grissom was aware of how his students were feeling, and he grieved with them.

He took a deep breath as Sara and Nick sat down next to their friends.

"Now we've done the register I have an announcement to make." Grissom drew all eyes to him without even raising his voice. "Early in the summer, as I'm sure that most of you know, two sisters, students on this school, were on a plane to Israel. Ziva and Tali David, were going to see their father."

Morgan Brody squeezed her boyfriend's hand and Greg Sanders leaned on her a little.

"Tali David is suspected to be dead, but I wanted to make sure that you are all aware that her friends have set up a Facebook page called 'Bring Tali Home' with the motto 'Alice until proven dead.' Like the creators of the page, I want to make sure that you're all aware that there is no physical proof that Tali David is dead. People posing as survival workers were known to have stolen bodies and living survivors, and the chances that Tali is among them are large."

"She's been kidnapped?" Natalia Boa Vista, one of Ziva's friends and a senior, asked with worry.

"Possibly." Grissom admitted, not showing how upset he was.

"She's dead, my money's on it." Shane Casey hissed loudly across the classroom.

Eight angry chairs scraped back, but before they could even get up, a freshman sitting a few feet away from Casey snapped.

"Up yours with a hockey stick, asshole."

Everyone froze and stared at the boy who didn't even flinch.

"What did you just say?"

"Berkley, sit down and shut up. What's your name?" Grissom asked the young African-American freshman, who suddenly looked sheepish.

"Walter Simmons, sir."

"Well, Walter, that wasn't very appropriate for the classroom. I don't approve, but just this once, no punishment will be given. Walter, did you know Tali?"

"She was my next door neighbour." Walter nodded.

Grissom sighed and removed his glasses. "I understand that this is hard for everyone, including those of you who didn't know Tali. But we do have things to do today so let's get on with it. This year we are starting once again with some trust exercises for the day, but we've been assigned different activities from last year. This year our tutor group have been chosen to start with the treasure hunt in the woods."

"The woods?" Greg asked, excited.

Behind the science courts at the top of the school was a whole seventy acres of woodland usually used for biology experiments, and off limits to unauthorised students during school time.

"The _woods_?" Catherine Flynn looked disgusted.

"What? Worried that you'll get a lickle bit of dirt on your shoe?" Jeffery White teased.

"No, I'm just worrying about what'll happen when little assholes like you get into the magic mushrooms."

"Guys, please." Grissom sighed. "So, the rules are as follows. There are twenty different film replica objects hidden in the woods. You have thirty minutes in teams of three to find as many as possible. The trio who bring back the most replicas will receive chocolate prizes, and the others will receive prizes relating to the replicas they bring back. When my whistle sounds you can go, and when it blows again you have one minute to get out of the forest or two objects will be ignored."

The class made their way up to the woods, joining with another homeroom as people scrambling left, right and centre for groups.

They all lined up outside of the woods and Grissom checked all of their groups. He reached into his pocket and blew a whistle.

In the moment the whistle blew, something changed within each and every student. In the rapidly fleeting moment, hairs stood on end, and an understanding swept over them and their bodies tensed. The moment the sound fell from the silver tube, a scream emitted from the lips of every student as they raced for the woods.

The dramatic charge to enter the woods was not something planned. It was something that came in a moment, something that couldn't be predicted.

Morgan tripped over someone's foot and fell to the floor, a thrill filled worry moving her hands to cover her head as people leapt over her. A moment passed and a hand was offered to her.

She grinned gratefully at Warrick Brown. He pulled her up and along with Greg they scampered after the others into the woods.

Catherine, Sara and Nick turned and headed immediately to the back of the woods, running swiftly.

"Stop!" Catherine hissed, and the three of them froze. Catherine put a finger to her lips as a group of freshmen passed noisily. They watched from the bushes as the younger students blundered past, and when they did, Catherine stealthily slipped behind them, taking the real metal golden snitch from the tree behind them.

"Great job." Nick grinned, a rare occurrence these days.

Sara scanned the woods and caught sight of a glittering golden ring dangling from a tree at the same moment that Greg did, the same distance from the tree in the other direction.

Without speaking they both sprinted towards it and leapt for the tree, their movements synchronised. They collided in mid-air but it was Greg's fingers that wrapped around the golden chain and pulled it from the tree.

As they both landed on the floor with a thump, Greg crowed with delight. "My precious!"

"Let's go, we lost it!" Sara called to the others, sticking her tongue out at Greg.

"I got another one!" Greg called to his own team, putting the chain around his neck.

Morgan grinned, tucking 'Wilson' the soccer ball from _Castaway _under her arm tightly and adjusting Captain Jack Sparrows headdress, as Warrick made sure that Indiana Jones' bullwhip was still safely looped around his shoulders, with the Puss In Boots doll from Shrek tucked in his belt. "We're on a rol- wait for it!"

Morgan pushed the ball into Warrick's hands and shot up into a tree. She climbed up to the last branch and pulled down the old video tape.

"What's that from?" Warrick asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"_The Ring_. Horror film." Greg grinned evilly. They walked on and Warrick met Catherine's eye over the Mary Poppins umbrella.

They sprinted towards it and collided, but Catherine pushed him away and snatched away the umbrella with a war cry mixed with laughter.

"Mine!"

"Yours!" Warrick laughed, holding up his hands in surrender. Landing on the floor next to him, Catherine smiled and kissed him.

"Catherine, you're fraternizing with the enemy!" Sara cried, pulling Catherine's arm up and away.

"Sara, that was my line, I was _just about to say that!" _Greg complained.

"Whistle!" Sara cried, and barely looking at each other the six teenagers sprinted towards the exit, leaping over logs and ducking under branches.

They burst out of the trees as the countdown of five to one left Grissom's mouth.

"Well done." He nodded to them with a smile, and they sat down to wait for the rest of the class.

"The winners," Grissom announced a short while later, "Are Greg, Morgan, and Warrick! They recovered replicas from _Pirates of the Caribbean, Castaway, Indiana Jones, The Ring and Shrek. _Congratulations."

Grissom passed them each a large box of chocolate, before handing out prizes to the others.

"Okay, this is a pretty good prize for not having won first place." Catherine remarked, staring at the life sized umbrella made of solid chocolate and the packet of chocolate frogs.

"Hell yeah," Nick smiled, tucking his own under his arm.

Ryan Wolfe, another in their close friendship group and Greg's cousin, jogged up to them, his arms full of chocolate replicas of objects from films. "Hey guys."

"How many did you get?" Greg's mouth dropped open.

"Four." Ryan's face was a mixture of smugness and friendly irritation. "You got one more than my group."

"You sure you didn't mind going with Natalia and Tara?" Sara wondered aloud.

"Nope, they're really hot." Ryan laughed, holding up his hands as Catherine elbowed him.

"They should have put a pacifier in the woods, from _Teen Mom._" Shane Casey sneered loudly as he walked past Catherine, shooting her a look. "It would have been appropriate."

Catherine gritted her teeth, but before she opened her mouth to make a comeback, Sara got in there.

"Well for someone who had a baby two months ago, Catherine looks better than you'll ever look in your pathetic little life."

Casey lurched towards Sara but the other students tensing and the strong arm of his friend Jeremy White, led him away from them.

"How is Lindsey?" Sara asked curiously.

Catherine couldn't help but smile at the thought of her two month old baby. "She's good."

They followed Grissom back to A11, settling back down at their desks.

With a friendly wave, Catherine went over to her seat next to Natalia and Ryan slid to the end of the row. Greg sat next to him, followed by Morgan, Nick, Warrick and finally Sara on the end.

"I want you now," Grissom announced, though he was angry that the school set him such a task, "To come up with the three worst and the three best things that happened to you in the last school year."

Instantly the whole row bowed their heads, and Grissom's face filled with both sympathy and empathy as his mind flooded with the horrors that several of his students had experienced last year.

_Sara's brother drinking and driving straight into Greg's car…_

_Sara's mother killing her father in a schizophrenic attack…_

_Sara and Nick being targeted by his old babysitter, a paedophile, and her husband, a rapist…_

_Greg being kidnapped by the same people…_

_Sara, Greg, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Morgan, Ryan, Archie Johnson, Sara's boyfriend and senior Tony DiNozzo, and Tali David, Nick's girlfriend being on that awful school trip that almost killed them and Grissom and his colleague and friend DB Russell…_

_The attack on the same students while on holiday and Nick Stokes' consequent burial…_

_The attack on the Stokes family that left the eldest son dead and the middle son in a wheelchair…_

_Catherine Willow's accidental pregnancy with her now ex-boyfriend Eddie Willows…_

"Actually, strike that. I want you relax, you can talk about whatever you want." Grissom decided, meeting the eyes of Warrick Brown who smiled gratefully.

"Milkshakes afterschool?" Greg asked as Catherine moved her chair to join them, dragging her 'popular' friends with her.

"I can't, I'm meeting Tony." Sara apologised.

"This time last year, if you'd told me that Tony DiNozzo would go to college in Vegas _just _so that he could be near a girl I would have called you insane." Catherine grinned and Sara shrugged.

There was a moment of silence.

"She was never in our homeroom but I feel like she should be here." Greg said quietly, changing the subject.

Sara nodded. "I miss her."

Nick couldn't talk.

When he first met and befriended Tali David, whenever he thought about her his stomach would fill with butterflies.

When she agreed to go out with him, whenever he thought about her he would just about burst with a love that he thought should be too strong for high school.

Since he lost Tali, every time he thought about her his heart exploded and his throat blocked tightly.

It was as though he couldn't breathe.

In a month he'd lost his brother and his girlfriend.

Some month.

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

She opened her eyes once more, a prisoner in a dark cell.

She had created a routine for herself, and used it to feel in control.

Every day, she carried out the actions with an OCD she had only ever seen before in her friend Ryan.

She tugged at the chain around her ankle until it bled, and then she let herself collapse against the wall.

She prayed in Hebrew for exactly fifty nine seconds and then opened her eyes and shuffled over to the stale bread pushed through the door. Every day it came with something different, a carrot, a leg of chicken, one solitary potato…

Today it was a slice of ham. She divided it into equal quarters and ate the first slowly, putting the others aside. Then she used her finger to 'brush' her teeth, swallowing a mouthful of warm water quickly afterwards.

She rubbed her hands over her face, and settled down in the far corner with her meagre food supplies and her bowl of water and picked up the piece of charcoal from the floor. With artistic talent that saw her top of every art class she attended, her wrist curved and her fingers smudged at the image in the floor.

She started on the third day, drawing crude pictures of the friends she loved so much on the floor, and as the thirty five days of captivity went by she added to them until she could almost believe that her friends were staring at her from the floor.

She affectionately ran her fingers down Nick Stokes' face, wishing that her fingers could touch his skin, wishing that she could see them all again.

She had no idea why she was here, no one had spoken to her since she had been thrown into the dirty hole, a bandage stained with her own blood wrapped tightly around her aching leg.

The gash on her arm was unattended, but healing slowly.

She continued to add to her drawings for the rest of the day, until the sun went down past the tiny letterbox of a window.

Then she moved to the nail sticking out of the side of the bed and scratched a thirty sixth mark into her arm. The dark side of her mind laughed, called it her calendar.

All she knew, as she laid down on the wooden boards that were her bed, was that the drop of blood that trailed down her wrist was almost the exact same size as the tear that fell down her cheek.

_Come save me, _she begged to anyone listening.

Tali David sniffled and wiped her eyes, settling her arms under her head.

_Come save me, please. _

**Any good? I really hope so, but I'm hardly ever happy with chapter one, so… I did try real hard. The next chapter will be less introductory and have more action so stay tuned! **

**Thanks for reading, please drop a comment below! :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Here Comes Trouble

**Hello everyone! Thank you very much for reading! I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update, I've finally managed to get my studies into perspective. I really hope that you enjoy this. **

**Hopefully this is good enough for you. **

**There is a mention of strong language in here, sorry :P**

**Read. Enjoy. Review.**

**Chapter Two # Here Comes Trouble #**

At recess at Atwater, whilst most students flooded to the canteen, there were a group that remained in their homeroom.

The first time had been something of an accident, several teenagers feeling overwhelmed and lost and retreating from the overcrowded cafeteria to a quieter place.

However, the quieter place had not been quiet for long.

Only hours later, a fully-fledged war of paper balls, pencil cases and shoes had resulted in Nick retrieving Sara's shoes from the top of the white board.

No wars sprung today. For teens so young, they felt very old.

Grief hung over them, suffocating their words into silence and smothering the imagination that used to run amok among them.

Greg was the first that was able to break the silence.

"She doesn't want this."

Morgan sighed. "No, she doesn't."

"It's hard to act like before when there's no certainty. We don't know where she is, even _if _she is…" Ryan's voice was quiet.

Nick was reluctant to raise his head, but Warrick's gentle address brought him up.

"Nick? You alright?"

Nick half grinned. "'m fine."

"None of us are fine." Sara protested. "But we will be."

"We should…Well I don't even know what we should do." Archie admitted.

"That's what I hate." Nick injected a little strength into his voice. "Not knowing what to do. It's the worst."

"Don't worry." Morgan said, her voice lighter than the others. "Because if we worry then we let in the dark. If we remain strong then we hold in the light."

"That's deep." Ryan teased. "Does your head hurt, Morgan?"

"Funny. Tali told me that." Morgan admitted. "It's true."

"Fun…We can have fun." Warrick looked as if he was having an epiphany.

"Uh oh, I know that look!" Nick worried.

Warrick scoffed. "Calm down, I'm not Greg."

He walked up to the whiteboard and started to draw a square.

"I am now going to tell you your future! Who is going to go first?" Warrick announced.

"MASH!" Morgan exclaimed. "I haven't played _that _since I was about twelve."

"Are you a twelve year old girl, Warrick?" Greg teased.

"Greg, thanks for volunteering." Warrick smirked, and Greg stood up.

"Okay, I'll bite."

"Tell me when to stop." Warrick announced, drawing a large swirl on the board. Mere minutes later, Warrick announced his results, writing them in a red pen at the top of the board.

"Greg Sanders," he declared. "Will marry… Robert Pattinson-"

"Hey!" Greg both stood up but Warrick continued to write as the others started to giggle.

"They will have twenty two delightful children, live in a shed and drive an ice cream van." He finished with a flourish.

"That's the worst future ever." He pouted, running up to try to rub away the future. His mouth dropped open. "Warrick?"

"What?"

"You used a permanent marker! You asshole!"

Warrick laughed, feeling a little bad. "Oops."

"Oh, fuuuuuu…" Greg groaned. "Rick!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Sure, sure." Greg glared, only half playfully.

Sara, who had been going to the bin by the door stared out of the small window in the door and felt her stomach drop a little.

"Uh guys, Grissom's coming."

In a scramble of desperate movement the rest of Warrick's writings were rubbed off of the board, and the whiteboard was rolled up, and the teenagers arranged themselves in a casual formation over tables and chairs.

Grissom looked at their quiet murmurings when he entered the room and frowned. "What have you done?"

"Nothing." They all chimed instantly.

Grissom rolled his eyes, moving to roll down the whiteboards. Greg cringed as the teacher's eyes widened.

"Well…have a nice time with that, Greg."

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

Sara walked into the café, a little nervous.

She glanced around for a moment, jumping when a hand made its way onto her hip.

"Hello beautiful." Tony smiled as she turned around to look at him.

"Tony. You scared me." She couldn't help but smile at her boyfriend of many months.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't look it." Sara teased.

"Well…" Tony grinned, leading her over to a nearby table. They sat down there, holding hands over the table. The young waitress came over and set down a coffee in front of Tony and a hot chocolate in front of Sara, complete with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate shavings.

"You ordered." Sara was a little shocked.

"I know you by now, Sar." He teased.

"Well I thought I knew you too, but you never order." Her narrowed eyes scrutinised his over the coffee cups.

"Things change." Tony shrugged, before stopping. "Well, some things do. Not others."

"Like what?" Sara asked quietly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I'll always love you." Tony smiled.

She smiled back. "How was college?"

"Awesome." Tony grinned. "Nothing but physical education, all day!"

"Urgh!" she shuddered. "I would hate that!"

"I know." Tony shrugged.

"So, how many hot girls are there in your class?"

"Well a few. But they're just hot. There's no one anything like you there."

"Is that a good thing?"

"You know that it is." Tony half frowned. The death of Tali David would have hit him hard even if he didn't know and like her. Ziva David, Tali's sister, was one of his best friends, and Sara was Tali's best friend. Both of them had lost a hell of a lot of confidence, both of them were quieter.

"I'm sorry, Tony." Sara looked down at the floor. "I get that I'm…fun…anymore."

"Sar, that's not true." Tony insisted. "You want me to take you to a college party, prove it to you?"

She laughed. "I may take you up on that sometime soon."

"Well there's one Friday night, on campus but I didn't want to know. You in?"

Sara stared at her coffee cup. This time last year she would have said no way. A few months ago she might have considered it.

"Let's do it."

The week seemed to fly by for her, and somehow with the promise of the party and the heavy loss that remained hanging over them life seemed more monotonous than ever.

Finally, Friday arrived, and Sara couldn't contain her excitement.

"What's gotten into you?" Warrick asked Sara in amusement as she glanced at the clock for the forty fifth time during their history class, last thing on Friday.

"I am…excited." Sara defended herself, crossing her arms.

"And I am sure that Hernan Cortes was as well, Sara, when he captured Montezuma, leader of the Aztecs, but that was not my question." The history teacher Doctor Mallard, fondly known as Ducky to his pupils half smiled at Sara.

"Cortes set out in 1519 and reached Tenochtitlan in the same year." She recited quickly with a smile.

"How do you do that?" Warrick asked in wonder. "Just…snap back into the lesson?"

"I am a super geek." Sara quipped back.

"Anyway, _why _are you excited."

"Well, I don't know if I'm more excited or nervous." Sara admitted. "Tony's invited me over to a party over at WLVU, and it's not the sort of part I've been to before."

"You'll be fine." Warrick smiled. "Tony wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Sara smiled at him gratefully.

When she got home she felt a little regretful that MJ wasn't there to help her. Mary-Jane Stokes, Nick's sister and her foster sister, who she had lived with for months, had moved away to college, and the older girl knew a lot more about fashion than Sara did.

Nevertheless, she curled her hair, slipped into a little black dress lined with red and slipped on a pair of comfortable black heels. She held her arms down, her fingertips just brushing the skin beneath her legs. So it almost passed the uniform code.

"Not too naughty, not too nice." Nick remarked with a grin.

"Hey!" she cried, throwing the nearest item, a water bottle, at him. "Get out!"

He caught it with uncanny precision, laughing. "I'm just here to help."

"Nick? Are you taking the piss?"

"No." he said, the smile slipping into sobriety. "You look nice, Sar."

She smiled at him and hugged him tightly all of a sudden. "Love you, Nick."

"Love you Sar." He returned.

It had taken a while, but they had been close friends before they were legally siblings. It hadn't taken long for Sara to be accepted by Nick and his family as a family member, and soon after "love you's" were daily, though they got some weird looks around school occasionally.

Tony picked her up at eight, and managed to smuggle her onto campus without so much as a second glass.

The large building they headed towards was pulsating with music and lights, and Sara swallowed.

"Urgh, To-"

"Relax!" Tony laughed lightly, squeezing her shoulders. "I'll look after you."

She smiled and they headed inside.

Almost instantly a boy bounded up to them. "Tony this is awesome!"

"Okay, Brad!" Tony laughed, holding up his hands.

"Hello lovely lady!" Brad addressed Sara, swaying. "The names' Brad Pitt, jus' like the actor, bud I'm not him!"

"Nice observation." Sara smiled, nodding.

"You are very pretty." Brad slurred.

"Than-"

"Hey, Brad? My girlfriend. Leave her alone, okay?"

"Okay, Tony!"

They moved on, and Tony passed Sara a drink. She paused.

"Don't you listen in biology? Alcohol in moderation is good for your arteries." He said, leaning in close to her cheek.

"I…"

"Trust me, Sara." Tony murmured, moving the hair away from her face.

"Okay." She nodded, taking a cup and raising it to her lips.

Only half an hour later, she was in the swing of things, dancing and laughing.

"I told you that you could still have fun!" Tony laughed at her.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled back with a smile.

An extremely good looking girl bounced over, putting a hand on Tony's arm. "Hey, DiNozzo, is this the girl that you refused to bang me for?"

Sara looked at Tony and he grinned. "Sure is, Wendy."

"Well, you have a good guy here Sara." The bottle blonde winked, before dancing off.

"Who are you and what have you done with Tony DiNozzo?" Tony asked Sara, and she laughed.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Before I met you I would have been in bed with a girl like that in minutes."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "That's nice to know."

Tony went red, not something that happened often. "Sar, I didn't mean it like that."

She glared at him and then laughed. "I know…"

He twirled her around the dance floor for another few hours, before Sara glanced at the time.

"Tony, I need to be home in ten minutes."

"Well let's go then." Tony grinned, leading her out of the crowded house. The last time they'd been out late, Sara's mom had killed her dad, and Tony knew that however "not her fault" it was, Sara still blamed herself. She hadn't been out late since.

They walked past the on-going drama of a girl screeching at a guy, a couple doing something that Sara didn't want to know about in a bush and a pair of boys hoisting a sleeping girl into a tree.

"Wait, we can't drive!" Sara realised.

"I'll call a cab." Tony nodded, patting his pocket. "Oh god, it's inside. I'll be two seconds."

Sara smiled as he kissed her cheek and ran back into the building.

"Hey, you're Sara, right?" an older boy asked her, walking up to her.

"Yep." She nodded, feeling more relaxed than she usually would. The alcohol was still in her system.

"I'm Ron." The guy introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Sara."

"I know that." Ron laughed, moving further towards her. Suddenly, he put hands on her hips.

"Hey!" Sara protested with a frightened yelp.

The bigger, stronger boy clamped his lips over Sara's and she struggled to fight him off, the stench of alcohol clung to his clothes and seemed to be everywhere.

She tried to scream as Ron stuck his leg between her knees and moved her legs open. "Help!"

"Shut up, you want me!" he growled, pushing her towards the bushes nearby.

"Get off!" Sara cried, terrified.

"What the fuck?" A voice roared, and suddenly Ron pushed Sara directly to the floor, the crushing weight of his muscular body pinning her down. With no warning, the weight fell off and as tall boy picked Ron up by his collar and threw him to the floor. "Basderic, what are you doing?"

Sara scrambled backwards as the tall boy leered over her. "Sara?"

"Joe?" a thankfully familiar voice called in shock and confusion. "Bas_deric_?"

"Tony!" Sara called hopefully as her boyfriend came into view.

"Sara!" Tony ran over, pulling her up off of the floor and wrapping his arm around her protectively. "What the hell just happened, Joe?"

"Basderic was attacking Sara!" Joe snapped.

"What?"

"She came onto me!" Basderic snapped back.

"I didn't!" Sara cried, cringing away from him.

"I believe you." Tony murmured into her ear, tightening his grip around her a little. "You stay the _hell _away, Basderic!"

Joe kicked Basderic with disgust and the two boys started brawling.

Tony ushered Sara away and they started running. They didn't stop running until Tony dragged Sara into the cab that he'd called.

As Tony rattled out the Stokes' address, Sara started breathing quickly.

"Hey." Tony stroked her hair. "It's okay. I'm never leaving you alone for five seconds."

"Don't." she half-whimpered. "Don't!"

"I won't…" Tony murmured.

In the midst of her dulling panic and her growing sobs, she couldn't help but feel… well, pissed off.

_The year had got off to a _great _start!_

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

Tali opened her eyes once more and stared around the room. Something was different. There was a key turning in the door. Normally food was just pushed through a flap in the door.

Instantly she was up in a ball at the other end of the bed, protecting herself.

The door opened and she tensed.

A barked order that she didn't understand chased two men into the room. They grabbed each of her arms and she didn't make a protest. Until she saw where they were leading her.

Then she began to scream.

**Theories, ideas and comments are very welcome, please review if you want to. **

**I really hope this quality is good enough for you all amazing people!**


	3. Chapter 3: Falling Behind

**Thanks for my reviews last chapter! I'm sorry if it was a bit much, for one single chapter, but I'm trying to introduce things in a more exciting way. Nice long chappy here for y'all!**

**I hope you're enjoying it. **

**Read. Enjoy. Review. **

**Chapter Three # Falling Behind #**

"Saaara?"

She groaned.

"Sar."

She pulled the pillow off of her head and threw it at her step-brother, who caught it with uncanny precision and threw it back at her.

As it bounced off her head she rolled over, waking up instantly. "Ethan?"

"Hey lil sis." Nick's older brother grinned. "Can I come in?"

"Yep." She grinned. "Two minutes!"

Ethan laughed as she flew into the bathroom, coming out literally two minutes later looking noticeably more awake.

She manoeuvred herself into the awkward hug position that had become natural for the Stokes siblings taking the chair into account.

"What're you doing here?" she grinned.

"I missed Rosa's cooking." He joked, referring to the Stokes' nanny. "Nah…but I heard that you had a college party last night, how was it?"

"It was…interesting." Sara grinned. "It was fun until the end…"

"Why, what happened?" Ethan frowned.

"I got…kissed by some drunk asshole outside of the building."

Ethan scowled. "You know that I'm just a call away. I'll run over any drunk asshole you want me to."

"Thanks." Sara laughed. "It was…a lot scarier last night. In the dark…he just…"

She shuddered.

"Hey…" Ethan put a hand on her arm. "It's okay."

"I know." She nodded, a small but genuine smile gracing her face.

"Just another ass who you'll never see again." Ethan soothed her gently.

"Are you up for a round of Mario Kart?" Sara asked with a cheeky grin.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He grinned. Despite the wheelchair he still beat the others at Mario Kart all the time.

"I _will _smash you." Sara insisted.

"Sure..." Ethan laughed.

Sara yawned. "I don't usually get up this early."

Ethan laughed. "Are you kidding?"

"No, why?"

"It's 1pm."

**CSIVCSVICSIV**

"Greg, Morgan's here!"

"Coming!"

Morgan laughed, leaving her shoes by the door and calling up the stairs to her boyfriend. "Don't worry!"

She opened the door to Greg's den and he bounded over to her, hugging her tightly.

"Hi!" she laughed, hugging him back. "Whatcha doin'?"

"I love you." His voice was muffled by her hair and her jumper.

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked with panic.

He pulled her wordlessly to his computer. She looked at the screen.

" ?" she frowned.

Greg pointed to the corner and Morgan's eyes lit up with understanding.

"Elle Sanders…" she read aloud softly. "Age at time of disappearance…five and a half. Current age…twenty. Disappeared from…Lacy Park, San Gabriel…"

"I've uh, been doing research…" Greg cleared his throat. "After last year…finding out about her in that way…I wanted to know as much as I could."

Morgan remembered it well. Too well. The argument that followed Greg's father's announcement had resulted in Greg running away, and then being kidnapped.

"I get it. What's that?" she murmured, pointing to the 'Pictures' hyperlink.

"I was…nervous." Greg grinned a little sheepishly.

"Have you seen a picture of her before?"

"Once… My parents hid all of their pictures in the safe. Mom wanted to protect me." Greg put a shaking hand on the mouse. After a long second, Morgan put a hand on his and it steadied.

Click.

On one side of the screen was a small girl with the same eyes of the exact same shade as Greg's. Other than that, she didn't look much like him at all.

Her hair was blonde, shoulder length, straight. Her eyes were more doe shaped, her lips much fuller, even as a four year old.

Greg's mouth popped open, shock written all over his face. "Morgan?" he breathed.

"Yes?"

"I…recognise her." Greg's tone was strangled.

Morgan squeezed his shoulders. "She _is _your sister…"

On the other side of the screen was the fake, processed image of an age progression image, with the same eyes staring out at them

Neither of them spoke.

Greg closed the window.

"Wha-"

"I saved it to favourites." Greg shrugged, getting out of the chair. "But I asked _you _to come around so we could _go _to the cinema. Not so we could mope around in my room."

"You sure?" Morgan asked.

Greg nodded, smiling. "Let's go."

"You two need a lift into Vegas?" Elise, Greg's mom offered.

"No thanks, Mom, we're gonna walk." Greg grinned at his mom, making sure that he hugged her before he left.

The pair of them strode down the road their fingers loosely interlinked in the glow of the midday sun.

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

Ryan groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Emily I'm too tired to play right now!"

"Why?" his little sister pouted, pushing a blonde wig towards him.

He groaned. "Em…"

"Mommy's nod here so you _has _to play with me!" the little girl insisted, jumping on the side of Ryan's bed.

"Again?" Ryan moaned.

"Yep." Emily put a thumb in her mouth.

Ryan sighed. However much he lived his mom and dad, and however much they tried, they were away increasingly often, as both of their careers in real estate were taking off.

Which meant that he was practically raising four year old Emily.

"Okay, I'm getting up." He mumbled. "Did Mom leave a note today?"

"Yeah, idakidin." Her thumb mangled the words spilling from her mouth.

"In the kitchen? Grab it for me, won't ya Em?"

The girl scrambled down off of the bed into the kitchen as Ryan staggered towards his bathroom. He had time to wash his face and run a couple of hands through his hair before Emily returned with the note. As expected, his parents were both working until later that evening.

"Ryan, I'm hungry."

"You've already eaten." He replied wearily.

"But…but…" the girl protested weakly, and Ryan felt a little sorry for his sister. It was hard for a four year old who had no idea why her parents weren't around and why her teenage brother was too busy and too tired to play with her.

"Do you wanna go out today, Emily?"

"Where?" she asked suspiciously.

Ryan considered for a moment. "Let's go to the park."

"Otay." She laughed. "I'll get my socks!"

Ryan smiled as she left the room. Homework could wait.

About an hour later, Ryan locked the door behind him and began to walk the short distance to the park, Emily dancing around him.

"Emily!" Ryan laughed. "Hold my hand while we're by the road."

She obliged reluctantly, trying to skip.

"Hey, Emily, stop!" Ryan ordered, pulling her to his side harshly. When she started to protest sorrowfully, he bent down and looked her in the eye. "Emily, cars can _kill _people. Remember last year, when Greg was in hospital?"

She nodded dismally. Half way to the park, Emily gasped with delight.

"Ryan!" she squealed, pointing forwards. "Achie!"

Ryan grinned and waved at his friend. "Hey, Arch."

"You're welcome. I could be editing videos right now, you know." Archie teased playfully.

"Who're you kidding, the fresh air's good for you! You spend _way _too much time on the computer, man." Ryan teased back.

"How're you today, Emily?" Archie asked.

"Good!" she sang.

"Good. How're you liking math this year?"

Ryan groaned in irritation. "I can_not _believe we have McKeen,_ two years in a row!" _

"He's my homeroom teacher." Archie complained. "And I would have to agree."

"He is literally the worst teacher in the world!" Ryan ranted, coming up to a large road. Emily's hold on his hand was swaying a little but he was too angry to notice. "I mean, he can teach, but he's so horrible, he literally will do _anything _to make his students feel down and awful and-"

"Tell me about it!" Archie rolled his eyes as they navigated across the busy roads.

"I literally _hate _the man's guts." Ryan growled.

"Mommy says hate's a bad word." Emily piped up.

"Yeah well normally I'd say you were right, Emily, and I never _hate _teachers, it's too bad a word." Archie explained. "But McKeen…Argh!"

"On a lighter note, have you met the new girl in the homeroom?"

"Finn?"

"Yeah. She's a junior, right?"

"Senior." Ryan corrected. "She's really nice. And pr_etty _hot."

"There's also a new girl in _our _year." Archie announced.

"I've met her." Ryan waggled his eyebrows as Archie sighed.

"Why do you _always _beat me to meeting people?"

"Because you spend _all _your time online." Ryan retorted with a grin. "To fill you in, she's called Jamie Lovato, she's got tan skin, dark hair, very hot."

"I've seen her." Archie said, a little disgruntled.

"Well if you take that tone I won't tell you what she said about the hot Japanese boy in-"

"I am _not _Ja-"

A scream interrupted Archie and Ryan's hand stopped as Emily's hand was wrenched from his.

The little girl had been skipping and had tripped, falling to the floor in front of an oncoming car.

Archie watched in horror as his best friend dived into the road, scooping up his sister and tumbling out of the way.

The car missed him by five seconds.

A squeal of car breaks screamed through the air and the driver opened the door.

What happened next shocked both of them.

"Oh my god! _Ryan, Emily! _Are you okay?" a very pale Catherine Flynn stepped out of her car. "I am so sorry!"

"Ow!" Ryan moaned, feeing a large bruise falling over his head. "Emily?"

"Ryan!" she whispered, before instantly starting to cry. "Ryan! Ryan you hurt!"

"I'm okay, Emmy, are you okay?"

As his sister nodded, Ryan pushed himself up, with Catherine and Archie helping him.

"It's okay." Ryan breathed, taking in a deep breath.

Car horns started to impatiently hurry them on.

"Hop in." Catherine offered. "Lindsey's in the backseat."

Ryan and Archie muttered 'thank you's while running into the car.

Emily's wailing started fresh when Ryan shut the door.

Catherine drove off of the road and then pulled away to the side of the road.

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

"No!" she sobbed, clinging onto Ryan's shirt. "No, no! Bad cars, bad cars!"

"It's alright." Ryan soothed, stroking her hair softly. He rocked her gently. "It's okay. All the bad cars are gone. Emily it's okay. Are you hurt?"

"No…" she sniffled. "My kneeses are sore but that's it."

"Okay…we're okay." Ryan exhaled. "That is why you _don't skip in the road." _

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!" Emily sobbed, her breath hitching in her throat.

"Ryan, are you okay?" Catherine was still pale. As if sensing her mother's distress, Lindsey started to cry. Catherine twisted around.

"I'm fine, Cath, really." Ryan said. "Hang on Em, we need to get Lindsey to Catherine. She's sad."

Almost immediately, Emily's crying ceased, and she watched open eyes as Ryan lifted the baby from the car seat and passed her to Catherine.

"That's quite enough drama for one day." Ryan sighed. "Cath, do you mind dropping us-"

"Park!" Emily put a thumb in her mouth sheepishly.

"Home!"

"Well, the park's on my way home anyway." Catherine smiled.

"Yay!" Emily squealed, before turning to bat her big blue eyes at her brother. "I no doing dat skipping ting adain."

"You can skip." Ryan assured her. "Just not-"

"On da road." Emily nodded.

"And what do you say to Catherine?" Ryan asked as the teenage girl passed the baby to Archie who cooed for a moment before passing her to Ryan to secure her into the seat.

"You welcome!" Emily sang.

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

Tali shuddered, exhausted, as she was dropped into the cell.

Every muscle on her body ached, and her arm ached the most of all.

She dragged herself up onto the bed and curled up in a foetal position, cradling her arm and crying quietly.

_She screamed when she saw the operating table, complete with straps to tie her to the table. _

_"No! Don't!" _

_They didn't even speak to her, they just strapped her to the table, overpowering her by pure strength. She was tied to the table, the straps binding her down. _

_"Please!" she whimpered as they stuck a needle into her arm, putting up a monitor which moved up in percentages._

_Tali felt dizzy, nauseous, and finally exhausted as 35% of her blood was drawn from her body. _

_When they yanked the needle from her arm, she could only think of how five more per cent could kill her. _

Tali was so tired. So, so tired.

She had no idea why they took her blood.

The door opened for the second time in the day and she whimpered. "No…"

The man who walked into the room frightened her, but she was too physically exhausted to fight. The man rolled her over onto her stomach and pulled her legs out.

He sat on top of her and pulled out to rubber bands and a straight razor.

Tali struggled weakly as the man pulled her hair back to the nape of her neck, securing it tightly with one of the rubber bands. He deftly braided her hair down to the ends near her hips.

Something fell inside her as the other elastic band was tied around the end of her hair. Hair that had taken her years to grow to her waist.

With one swift sweep, the straight razor cut through her hair, severing the thick braid from her skull.

She sobbed a little brokenly as he got up, taking her hair out of the room. Her hands shakily raised to the back of her head with half of the energy she had left, and the other half of the energy was used to let out a broken sob.

She shuddered weakly until her mind gave in and she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

In her dreams she was not alone. Her mind provided her with an escape into a world where she was loved, where her mom kissed her goodnight and when Nick held her until she fell asleep.

Tali would have been grateful that she had not had a nightmare since the age of three if it was not for the barrage of memories and philosophical thoughts that haunted her in every waking moment.

_Is anyone coming? Why am I here? Why am I _alive?

Though she tried to remember the good times with her friends, and there were many, but all that came to her were disturbed memories of the most horrifying parts of the last year.

That night she remembered the horror of being woken up by Nick's blood soaking into her cheek, from when his throat was cut on a school trip turned horror film.

The next day as she dragged her weakened body through her "routine", she came to a disturbing conclusion.

She, Tali David, was sick of thinking.

The next day she started another face on the floor, next to Nick's, Sara's, Warrick's, Ryan's and Morgan's. She started with Greg's smile, rubbing and smudging until his mouth was three dimensional. Then she moved onto his chin and worked her way upwards.

Over the next two days she filled in his face, his haphazard hair, finishing with his eyes.

As she tried to capture the light in them she hardly registered footsteps until they were right outside the door.

She leapt onto the bed and huddled away, but the men grabbed her nonetheless, taking her back to the operating table. Again she struggled, but she was still weak.

One of them put an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and she began to panic. Her limbs were strapped down and a needle jabbed into her arm.

A paralytic drug swept through her system in a matter of minutes, and fear swallowed her desire not to think. A man came in surgical mask and gloves, with a box of tools and she screamed inside.

He injected her with a mild anaesthetic, and though paralysed, she could still feel a mild pain as he cut her open.

_Pass out!_ She begged herself. She didn't care why, be it pain or exhaustion or death, but she didn't want to be conscious anymore.

Her consciousness was not on her side, however, and with only a mild anaesthetic, she was awake and completely aware for the entirety of the operation that removed one of her perfectly healthy kidneys.

When they had finished, she was returned to her cell once more.

If she had thought she was exhausted when they took her blood, it was nothing compared to know. She couldn't actively cry, though tears still leaked from her eyes.

This time they threw in a packet with her.

It landed centimetres from her face and with blurred vision she read the letters.

_Ibuprofen. _

Finally, Tali David passed out.

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

"We can't do this!" the girl whispered to her friend as they got off of the bus into San Gabriel.

"Why?" the taller blonde responded. "We escaped, Maddy, we did it, we don't have far to go now and we'll be _home!" _

"Escape?" Maddy's voice was tight. "We didn't escape, they left the door open and we ran into the middle of the desert with no more than fifty dollars. The word 'escape' implies we were being guarded."

"Meh. Technicality." Her friend replied.

"Technicality? Are you kidding me?"

"Nope. Deadly serious."

"Ella… I don't…I don't think I can go home." Maddy admitted with a whisper.

"Why not?" a frown marred Ella's pretty face.

Maddy's eyes filled with tears. "After everything, after everything they've done, everything _we've _done, you think we can just go home!"

"Why couldn't we?" Ella's eyes flickered down to the floor.

"Ella, we're…we're whores, working girls, prostitutes!"

"No!" Ella cried, looking up again.

"Do you call it something else then when you give sex for money?"

"It's something they made us do, it's not who we are, Maddy. We've been through hell and we're coming back!"

"You're so stubborn." Maddy scowled.

Ella grabbed her friend's shoulders. "I haven't seen a picture of my brother since I was seven years old. I haven't seen him, or my parents in even longer. Maddy, I want to go home!"

Maddy went quiet. "Did they start… I mean…"

"I was fifteen." Ella understood her friends question. "Fifteen when they used me for the 'private use of their friends'. Sixteen when they put me on the streets."

"And before?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Madeline." Ella snapped, a rare occurrence.

"Sorry." Maddy muttered.

"It's okay." Ella responded automatically. "Maddy, we're going home. What's done is done, but they'll understand, Mad, they have to."

"How can my mom love me again, Ella? When I've done all I've done…"

"She'll love you because you she loves you. What they did to you is not your fault."

Maddy leaned into her friend for a quick hug. "Let's do this." She grinned.

"One thing! Ella is what _they _called me. And I don't want to be called what they called me anymore."

"What should I call you?"

"Elle."

"Just Elle?"

"Yep. Elle Sanders."

"Okay then, Elle. I like that name better anyway."

Elle smiled, shedding the unwanted, unwelcomed 'a' off of the end of her name.

Maddy continued. "Personally I just hope that they're not chasing us."

"Well, I personally just hope my family hasn't moved." Elle shrugged, trying desperately to remember her home address. "That would suck!"

**PS, I get that the story may seem a little fragmented here, but I'm trying to introduce the pieces in a more interesting way. **

**I would LOVE to hear any theories you have :) Reviews speed my revision and subsequently my writing and updates. **

**Thanks for reading! **


	4. Chapter 4: Homeward Bound

**Thanks very much for the reviews I got last chapter. I am very sorry that this has taken a while, but unfortunately I have two of my most hated things in the world, exams and writer's block. This story is greatly suffering from the latter, as I want to keep it vaguely realistic but ideas are hard to come by. I feel this story is going down the drain, so I have made the decision to ask for some PROMPTS PLEASE about what could happen. Otherwise I'm afraid that I will unintentionally take a hiatus from this story which I DO NOT PLAN ON DOING but it may happen anyway. **

**I am sorry. And also this chapter is awful. **

**Either way, any long or short term plot ideas would be much appreciated. **

**Sorry :( **

**Read. Enjoy (if you can). Review. **

**Chapter Four # Homeward Bound #**

Elle sat down on the pavement, ignoring the rain pounding down around her.

"Elle? Ella?" Maddy asked nervously.

"They've gone…"

_"You're just gonna knock on the door?" _

_"What else can I do?" Elle shrugged. _

_When a petite Asian woman answered the door, her hopes fell. "Yes? Can I help you?"_

_"I…I'm looking for the Sanders family?" _

_"Oh, you're too late." _

_"Too late?" Elle started to panic. _

_"They moved, last year. To Las Vegas, I believe." _

_"Las…Vegas?" Elle whispered. _

_"Sorry." The woman grimaced apologetically, before bidding Elle goodbye and closing the door in her face. _

"Las frickin' Vegas…" Elle groaned and rested her head on her knees for a moment.

"Elle? We can't give up, Elle. We've got just about enough money for bus fare to Vegas…"

"And then what?" she whispered brokenly. "Vegas is huge!"

"Do you remember him?" Maddy asked suddenly.

"What?" Elle looked up.

"Greg? Do you remember him?"

A wisp of a smile fluttered across Elle's face. "More than I do my parents…I wasn't much older than five…I remember playing with him, he had this cheeky, _adorable_ little laugh…he laughed as if he'd just done something he wasn't supposed to. His hair never sat straight…He could be completely different now, though."

"Well let's go see, shall we?" Maddy tempted her friend, who took her hand. "Let's do this."

Elle looked up at her, a little confused. "What happened to Miss we-can't-do-this-or-go-back?"

"She had a wake-up call from Miss what-else-can-I-do."

Elle stood up and hugged Maddy tightly. "You're right. Let's do this."

The journey to Las Vegas took five hours, and they arrived in the city at around nine am. "Now what?"

"I know exactly what to do." Maddy put on a cheerful tone to try and distract her friend. "We will consult the Google."

"Really?"

"Yeah. There must be an internet café somewhere."

"We have five dollars." Elle pointed out.

Regardless, they found a café nearby and slotted a couple of dollars into the machine. "Search for Greg Sanders."

More than one promising result popped up, and Elle clicked on the first, a newspaper article.

_Teenage boy saved by friends from stalkers named as Greg Sanders. _

They scanned the article quickly, Elle's eyes lingering over the photograph of a laughing boy.

"I have an idea." Maddy took over the mouse and clicked on Facebook. She searched for Greg Sanders, and sure enough, a boy appeared that matched the picture from the internet article. "He goes to Atwater."

"He'll be at school right now." Elle whispered.

"We should go."

"And just ask at reception?" Elle raised an eyebrow.

"Otherwise we will just sit here and make pretend plans about reuniting with family. It needs to actually happen, Elle."

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

"Are you kidding me?" Greg's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head.

"No," Grissom looked mildly amused. "You will all have to pass finals this year or you will have a choice of either dropping out or staying back a year."

Catherine looked up at the ceiling. "Oh joy."

Nick groaned. His parents always put a fair bit of pressure on him during finals, but that would go through the roof if they knew that he could be kicked out of school if he did not pass.

Lunchtime had passed and they were back in their homeroom.

There was a knock at the door and Judy, the school receptionist, walked in. "Dr Grissom, may I borrow Mr Sanders, please? You may need your bags."

Grissom nodded and Greg walked to the door. "Am I in trouble? Because if I am, I didn't do anything wrong."

"You have a visitor." Judy smiled.

Greg frowned. "Who?"

"Well…" Judy led him into a little room. A pair of girls were pacing inside it. Their dresses were short, their hair was tangled and they both looked as if they'd been dragged through a bush backward, as his mother would say. But one of them he recognised a little.

Her mouth dropped open at the sight of him and her eyes filled with tears.

"Hi…" she whispered. Her friend grinned at her and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry to bring you out of class, you probably don't remember me but…"

As she trailed off Greg swallowed. "Elle?"

Her eyes widened with hope and she nodded.

Greg blinked stupidly. He hadn't noticed Judy leave, he hadn't noticed his bags fall to the floor. "You're…real? As in really here?"

She nodded tearfully. "We uh…ran away from..."

"From who?" Greg stammered.

"The people who…" Elle's eyes flickered downwards. This was even harder than she had feared.

"How did you find me?" Greg's eyes bulged from his head and his sister (was it?) smiled sheepishly.

"Facebook."

He wasn't sure if he could believe her. How could he? She looked like the age processed image, but still... Greg took a hesitant step forward. "Can I see your wrist?"

Maddy frowned but Elle laughed softly and showed him the inside of her right arm. A small, vaguely star shaped burn scared her pale skin and Greg swallowed. It was one of the things his parents had told him about her.

"Do you remember it?"

Sadly, Greg shook his head. "Mom…told me about it a few weeks ago…She said that a candle fell off of the table and that you stopped it from hitting me."

Elle nodded tearfully. "Yeah…"

Greg looked at her, feeling as if he was in a dream. He did not know what to say, he had no words to express his feelings.

"I…I am sorry for coming here but I didn't know where else to go-"

"Why are you sorry?" Greg asked.

She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know." Then curiosity got the better of her. "Do you remember me at all?"

"A little…Mom and Dad…they…they didn't tell me that you were gone. They wanted to protect me, but uh… Mom went a little over the top." Greg admitted. "I don't have very many memories…"

"You were a baby…" Elle nodded, trying to make herself feel better about it. It wasn't his fault, and she knew that it wasn't. But it was hard to not be recognised by the person whose memory had got her through fourteen years of hell.

Greg swallowed, taking in scars on his sisters arms, the significance of her clothing. "What did they do to you?"

Elle glanced helplessly at her brunette friend.

"I think you two have a lot to talk about. I'm Maddy." She added.

"The same people took her…" Elle explained softly.

Greg held up a hand for a second. He could hear whispering…

He yanked open the door and Sara, Morgan and Catherine tumbled through the door. He raised an eyebrow.

"I told you no, Catherine!" Sara hissed, blushing furiously. "I'm sorry Greg, she made us do it!"

"Do what?" Greg crossed his arms.

"We didn't actually eavesdrop." Morgan assured him, subtly eyeing the two girls. "We didn't get there in time. Sara started freaking out. We didn't think it would be serious."

"Why is it okay to eavesdrop?"

"Because I still haven't paid you back for when you hid _in my cupboard _with Lindsey and listened to my phone calls for an hour!"

Greg blushed himself. "Okay, we were playing hide and seek-"

"She's three months old."

"I wasn't planning on it, Catherine. But you have interesting conversations." He couldn't help but add.

Elle and Maddy watched, amused and a little relieved that these strange girls had interrupted the awkward silence.

"Elle, Maddy, these are Catherine, Sara and Morgan, my friends-"

"Ahem."

Greg rolled his eyes at Morgan's fake apprehension. "And my girlfriend. Guys, this is my sister, Elle and her friend Maddy."

The colour drained out of all three faces. "Oh…"

"I'm sorry, Greg…" Catherine stammered, before pointing over her shoulder and backing out of the room. "I really need to use the bathroom!"

Morgan looked at him, then back at the girls. "Are you two okay?"

They nodded gratefully. "We are now."

"We probably look a bit…meh…" Elle shrugged. "But we've been running for a few days now."

Greg swallowed painfully and Sara bit her lip. "I have some clothes in my locker that might fit either of you, if you'd like to change."

Both girls looked shocked. "That would be…nice…"

"I would offer but as Greg so often points out I'm pretty small." Morgan smiled sheepishly. "Saying that, Catherine will have something. We'll be back in a bit-"

Before either girl could protest, the younger teens were gone.

"Sorry about them." Greg smiled a little.

"Don't be." Maddy smiled. She hadn't been showed so much kindness in months. "But we don't want to be any trouble."

"If it was trouble, they wouldn't offer." Greg couldn't help but feel proud of his friends. Then the awkwardness trailed back into the room. None of them knew what to do.

Once again, they were saved by outsiders. There was a polite knock at the door.

"Greg?"

"Grissom, come in." Greg was a little relieved.

Grissom nodded at the two young women and offered them his hand. "I'm Dr Grissom, Greg's homeroom teacher and his science teacher."

"I'm Maddy Briggs." She shook Grissom's hand, skilfully hiding her shock at his apparent lack of judgement.

"Elle Sanders." Greg's sister murmured.

Grissom nodded. "I guessed as much. Are you alright, Greg?"

Greg nodded gratefully, unaware of his sister's shock. Elle hadn't been to school since she was four, but she was sure that teachers were never so close to their students.

"Yes, thank you sir. Well…um…"

Grissom looked at the two girls. "You're running from someone."

They nodded uncomfortably at the statement.

"Can you tell me who?"

The glanced at each other and Grissom smiled sympathetically. "When did you last eat?"

They glanced at each other once more.

"I've spoken to the principal and I would like to offer you a shower in the teachers' changing rooms, while we send Greg to get food from the canteen." Grissom smiled.

"Is that okay?" Maddy asked cautiously, but Grissom smiled.

Just in time, Sara and Morgan came back. They both carried t-shirts and jeans, and Sara had two large sweaters.

"We borrowed the sweaters from Nick and Warrick." Morgan explained. "Told them that we'd explain later."

"Thank you both." Grissom nodded, passing the clothes to the scantily dressed young adults.

Half an hour later, Elle found herself curled up in a large chair, her fingers curled around a mug of hot chocolate. A plate of cookies and fruits was on the table in front of her, but after devouring a jacket potato. Maddy was in the next chair and her posture was only slightly more relaxed.

The police had arrived, though Grissom had ensured that the girls were happy for the police to enter before he invited them in.

Greg was in the chair opposite her, taking everything in with wide eyes as the police checked fingerprints and took DNA samples. He looked almost like the young child she remembered.

"So, Miss Sanders," the female officer asked, "Can you start at the beginning?"

She took a deep breath.

_She swung her little legs, trying to push herself on the swing. "Daddy!" _

_Her father called back from the other side of the otherwise empty playground. "I'll be there in a minute, once I catch Greg."_

_A peal of giggles emitted from Greg's favourite hiding place in the fortress style climbing frame. It was a little room just big enough for him to slip into, and it was small enough that the only way to get him out was to coax him. _

_Elle huffed and tried to be patient. "Come _on _Greg, I wanna swing!" _

_Her little brother laughed again and her dad tried to reach him. _

_Suddenly rough hands grabbed her from behind, dragging her off the swing. She screamed in terror and pain. "DADDY!" _

_Andrew Sanders looked up in horror. "ELLE!" _

_"Daddy?" Greg asked, frightened and confused. _

_Elle kicked and struggled but she couldn't get free. "Put me down! Daddy, DADDY! Help me daddy, please, please daddy, help!"_

_"Greg, stay there, you understand, stay!" Andrew roared, before turning to chase after the man running away with his daughter. "Leave my daughter alone! ELLE!" _

_"Daddy!" she screamed hysterically, flailing and crying, but something pricked her neck. She screamed even louder before choking. She slumped in the man's arms as he carried her into a van. _

_Her father's impassioned screams were all she could hear before she was dragged into the darkness. _

Elle's story stammered to a stop and she took a deep breath. Her eyes were trained to the floor as she continued. "They kept me like a slave for the first eleven years or so. Y'know, cleaning, cooking, working... That sort of thing…"

"What sort of work?" the police officer asked.

"Anything really. I mainly sewed things, stuck sequins on bags, that sort of thing."

"Who was keeping you there?"

"The man…He told me that his name was no concern of mine and that I should reference him as X. I heard people address him as Titus, and others as Mr Frost. I have no idea if that helps…"

"It does… What happened next?"

She swallowed and cleared her throat, her eyes flickering to Greg. "They um…they made me…"

The police woman looked at Greg. "Mr Sanders, would you mind leaving-"

"No-" Elle started, before she looked at her mug once more. "I mean…you can go if you want, but…I would…"

Greg crossed his legs in his chair. He wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what came next but at the end of the day this was his sister. And she needed him.

Elle was comforted at her little brother's actions. "They started to use me as a prostitute. I can give you names of some of the other men involved in the ring…"

"Great." The woman smiled, turning to Maddy. "Is this where you were brought in?"

The girl looked at the floor. "Yeah…"

"Okay…I have one more question. Did they ever mention to either of you why you were abducted?"

The two girls shook their heads.

"Right. If you just write down your statement and sign it then you can go."

"Where?" Elle asked simply.

"Home." Greg's voice was surprisingly firm. "You can come home. Both of you. We have two spare bedrooms."

Elle swallowed. She wasn't sure that she could take the…well, the awkwardness of facing her parents.

Grissom on the other hand, looked at Greg proudly. "I will call your parents."

As Grissom left, the police woman spoke to Maddy. "Come on, we'll call your parents."

"I…"

"They will want to speak to you, Madeline. They've been calling the police every week asking for leads."

"Really?" Maddy was shocked. Her own story did not involve her father running to save her. It involved a lonely girl who trusted the wrong people and paid a heavy price.

"Really…"

As her friend was led into the hall, Elle was left alone with her brother. They stood, both uncomfortable with the silence.

"Elle?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that you're okay." Greg's left foot tapped on the floor but his eyes stared straight into hers. "I really, really am."

Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm glad that you're glad. I…I really missed you."

A horrible guilt swamped Greg as he thought of the few dream-like memories that he had of his sister. "I'm probably a little different to how you remember, huh?"

She nodded a little, but a smile flickered across her cheeks. "You've grown. A lot."

Greg laughed. "Well, babies tend to do that."

Elle laughed back, before smiling. "Your laugh hasn't changed at all."

"So I have a babyish laugh?" Greg contorted his face into a look of mock offense.

"Definitely." She teased back.

When Grissom opened the door to pass the hysterical Ms Sanders on to one of her children, he lowered the phone and smiled.

Greg was hugging his sister tightly, her face was buried in his neck. They were of a similar height, and Grissom could see the tears trailing down Greg's cheeks, originating from his tightly closed eyes.

He backed out of the room silently and murmured down the line. "Ms Sanders? You may have to wait for just a minute."

**CSIVCSIVCSIV**

Her eyesight was fuzzy, she didn't know where she was. Her hearing was good, though, and she wished that it was the other way around.

"We have spoken to our sources. The Mossad Director will not risk that for his daughter." The sound of someone spitting on the floor made Tali jump. "You've taken everything that we can easily sell?"

"Yes sir. Hair, kidney, blood…"

"Good. Take her out into the desert and dispose of her in any way you can."

Tali whimpered involuntarily. "Please, let me go."

She did not know if she imagined it, but as she was roughly looped over a man's shoulders, she thought that she heard a whispered apology.

_So…this is it…_she thought. _Thank you, God, for finally getting me out of this mess. _

Then an image of her friends filled her vision and despite her best efforts she started to cry.

"What?" the man snapped at her. "What wrong?"

She sniffled, trying to stop herself. The words had a mind of their own, however.

"I don't want to die."

**Again, my apologies. I am not really happy with this chapter, but I do not think that I ever could be. Let me know if I'm right or wrong, and if you have any prompts. **

**Sorry also about the moaning, but as my parents/teachers/just about everyone else like to point out, I HATE asking for help.**

**I hope you have a good day, I really do :)**

**BTW For any LotR/The Hobbit fans I have a Hobbit fan fic called "Where I Belong" on the go right know that I feel is going better than this one (as in I know where its going) so if you check it out I would muchly appreciate it! Thanks! **


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